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Affordable tech gifts for holidays

LOS ANGELES: Sure, top gifts like the iPad Air, xBox One and Playstation 4 are expensive at over $500, so we came up with suggestions for affordable tech gifts. --Phones: Anyone on your list would surely

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LOS ANGELES — Top tech gifts like the iPad Air, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 are on the pricey side, so we came up with suggestions for some affordable ideas for the gadget lover on your holiday list. (Be mindful that prices can fluctuate during the holiday season).

— Phones. Anyone on your list would surely love Apple's new iPhone 5s or Samsung's Galaxy S4, but once you've plunked over the $200 or so, someone is on the hook for a two-year contract.

Other options: No-contract phone deals from Boost, Virgin Mobile and others offer bargain phones from Kyocera and LG for as low as $25-$50. Then the giftee can pay for the usage directly, for as low as $2 daily.

— Tablets. Beyond the iPad, there are credible alternatives with 7-inch screens, apps and enough entertainment to keep anyone busy for days. The Google Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire HDX both sell for around $225, but could be discounted at your favorite retailer. Barnes and Noble's Nook HD tablet/e-reader starts at $129. Look for discounts throughout the holidays on all of these popular tablets. One caveat: Some of them may be hard to come by, so keep looking or expect to be patient with online shipping times.

— TV streaming. Gadgets to stream videos and more to your TV are tops on many holiday wish lists. Google's Chromecast plugs into a TV and beams programming from Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube and others directly from the tablet or smartphone. It sells for $35, but many discounters have priced it at $30 for the holidays. Competitor Roku 3 is a more full-featured streaming device, and sells for $99, but the less powerful Roku 2 is $59.

— Chargers. Who has a phone that can make it through an entire day without going dead? Tons of portable chargers are available to give you a little more juice to make it through your day. Mophie's Juicepack Helium ($55.95 ) is a case that fits around your smartphone and supplies extra battery power at the same time. Or charge up Innergie's Pocketcell ($59.99) before you leave home, and then connect it to your phone when it starts getting low.

— Flash drives: In the digital era, we're always running out of storage on our devices so how about a big, fat 64 GB flash drive? Amazon sells the Sandisk Cruzer for $25.99, and that's enough memory for thousands of songs, photos and several movies as well.

— Cameras: In the smartphone era, many of us are using a mobile device to take all our photos. That's fine, as long as you don't miss zooming in to get closer to the action. You'll also miss out on more people-pleasing flash, a wider angle view and the ability to put in a big memory card and not have to worry about running out of room. If you want to up the ante on your shots affordably, consider: Nikon's Coolpix Nikon COOLPIX S9500 has a 22x zoom and sells for $175 on Amazon; Canon's Powershot SX280 is $200 with a 20X zoom. Both have Wi-Fi.

Another thought: One of the most coveted cameras is the GoPro action cam, which is often attached to helmets, surfboards and skateboards. The top of the line GoPro Hero 3+ sells for $399.99, but how about the entry level GoPro $199 Hero 3? The differences aren't that drastic. Both shoot 1080p HD video, but for still photos, the 3+ is 12 MP vs. 5 MP for the 3. And both connect to GoPro's cool smartphone app that lets you compose images and view them on your smartphone.

Happy hunting everyone!

Readers: what's the best affordable tech gift you've found? Let's chat about it on Twitter, where I'm @jeffersongraham.